Friday, 15 December 2017

Final words from Cohort 3!

It’s hard to believe that our 10 week placement is almost
over. Today is our last day in the Youth Alive office and on Sunday we will be
leaving Navrongo to make our way to Tamale for the debrief event, before we all
go back home. I’m sure I can speak on behalf of my entire team in saying that
this has been a truly interesting experience which none of us are likely to
forget any time soon. There have been ups and downs throughout our time here,
but we have persevered and worked hard in our attempt to make a lasting impact
in the communities in which we have worked.

In 10 weeks we have;

·Participated in 4 radio shows as guests
discussing

oYouth Confidence

oChild abuse

oFamily Planning

oSummary of our work in the 10 weeks

·A women’s sensitisation carried out in 4
different communities discussing the encouragement of children to continue in
education, how to deal with teenage pregnancy, etc.

·A community sensitisation on family planning in
3 communities

·3 Senior High School sensitisations on preparing
them for the future after school.

·A Junior High School sensitisation on Child
Marriage in 4 different schools.

·A Junior High School sensitisation on Youth
Confidence in 4 schools.

·Participated in a girls club at one of the
Junior High Schools.

·Had 10 Guided Learning sessions on understanding
human rights.

·Had 2 project visits from LIFE and Trade Aid.

·Visited Sandema to see team LIFE and Bolga to
see Trade Aid and BICAF.

·10 blog posts including this one.

·Visited Tongo Hills and experienced authentic
Ghanaian culture.

·Carried out 4 community exit meetings with
community members and Chiefs.

Listing all of the things that we have done like this makes
me realise just how much we have achieved in 2 and a half months. 10 people who
had never met each other before participating in the ICS programme have come
together from varying backgrounds, put aside their differences, worked strongly
together and entered deprived areas of Ghana to alleviate the plight of
vulnerable people. One thing we all have in common is our passion to help those
in vulnerable positions and do what we can to impact the lives of those in
deprived areas here in Navrongo. The members of the communities themselves which
we have worked in have been incredible. They have welcomed us warmly, listened
to us, asked us questions, taken on board what we have to say, laughed with us,
prayed for us and been an absolute pleasure to work with. We may have been
there to teach them, but they have taught us more than we could have ever
anticipated.

For many of my team this was their first time away from home
for an extended period of time and I am extremely proud of everyone for
powering through their homesickness on down days and getting on with the work
at hand. This was not my first time living away from home but this experience
was still tough on me at points. Moving away from home (whether it be thousands
of miles or even just a few hours away from your hometown) is never going to be
easy, especially since the culture may be unbelievably different from what you
are used to. I think my team has acted as an incredible support network for
each other and we are very lucky to all get on so well.

The team goes beyond working together. We have celebrated 3
birthdays, visited Tono Dam, been to the swimming pool (almost every week),
toasted marshmallows, been to a wedding, carved watermelons for Halloween, played
and taught each other card games, played scrabble, had movie nights, visited
Church, watched football and rugby together, visited each other’s host
families, spent hours chatting, getting to understand everyone’s cultures, gave
secret Santa gifts and have visited Obama’s tea spot and the Prison Canteen
more times than we can count.

I would like to use this final blog post to thank my team
for being so wonderful and supportive. These 10 weeks wouldn’t have been the
same without you!